Author(s):
Cristin A. Burke* - University of Kansas
Abstract:
Establishment of the National Oil Fund in 2001 has enabled President Nursultan Nazarbaev to increase his control over the government in Kazakhstan. In return for increased governmental expenditures on social services and infrastructure, the citizenry appears to have acquiesced to increased centralization of power within the country and to the president's depiction of a unified and modern Kazakh people without significant opposition groups. This view of the state has recently been challenged with the release of the film Borat: Cultural learnings of US and A for make benefit glorious nation of Kazakhstan. Differences of opinion at the highest echelons of power on the appropriate reaction toward the film have resulted in a fracturing of the power dynamic within the government, and can have long-lasting repercussions on the country's future leadership
